You can also follow the pro-race action on IRONMAN.com and on Twitter (@IRONMANLive). Join the conversation using the hashtag #IMMAChamps for both Twitter and Instagram.

Follow your age group athlete's progress throughout the race on the IRONMAN Athlete Tracker.

Race start time: Saturday: 6:25 a.m. CDT

The Buzz

Could you be a contender?

Are you one great coach away from a breakthrough season? Legendary IRONMAN (and IRONMAN U Master Coach) Mark Allen is offering 10 free full-season coaching scholarships for those athletes who will put them to the best use, and have the most financial need. Applications are open to anyone who has completed at least one triathlon, and is 18 or over (juniors eligible with a waiver signed by a parent or guardian). "My goal is to give something back to the sport that has given me so much," said Allen. Among his many honors, Allen was inducted into the IRONMAN Triathlon Hall of Fame and was recently voted "The Greatest American Triathlete of All Time" in a poll conducted by IRONMAN.

Olympic protein intake

The International Association of Athletics Federations' (IAAF) has released new guidelines for protein consumption for track and field athletes. The last IAAF guideline, published in 2007, recommended .8 to 1 g of protein per kg of body mass per day. The new guideline is 1.6 g per kg of body mass, or up to 2.4 g per kg of body mass for athletes restricting calories. That would be the equivalent of 163 g of protein per day for a 150 lb athlete. While we wait for an international governing body to study protein intake for IRONMAN athletes and give us a recommendation, the IAAF guidelines should be relatively accurate for triathletes. "Track and field athletes engage in vigorous training that place stress on physiological systems requiring nutritional support for optimal recovery," said Dr. Oliver Witard. Yup, sounds like IRONMAN.

"You run one good marathon…everybody knows who you are."

Gene "Ultra-Geezer" Dykes broke his own Boston course record last week by almost 20 minutes, bringing his Boston M70 marathon record of 3:16:20 down to 2:58:50. Appearing at a pre-race Boston panel discussion, Dykes told the crowd that a year ago no one recognized him, but "you run one good marathon, and suddenly everybody seems to know who you are." Dykes first broke three hours last April at the Rotterdam Marathon, and then repeated the feat at the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon, as well as running an unsanctioned 2:54:23 in Jacksonville, Florida (which would have been an M70 world record). Dykes’ tongue-in-cheek advice to aspiring senior runners: "If you want to run fast as an older person, for heaven’s sake, do not win the Boston Marathon. Amby Burfoot [who won once, in 1968] hasn’t run sub-3 in quite a few years. Same with Bill Rodgers [who won Boston four times]. So if you find yourself on Boylston street and there’s nobody in front of you, slow down and let somebody pass you. You’ll go down in history as a choker, but you might have a chance of continuing to run fast into your old age."

Some 85,000 athletes seek entry into the IRONMAN World Championship each year, but only 2,500 make it to the starting line on race day. To honor the vision of IRONMAN co-founders, John and Judy Collins, IRONMAN remains committed to providing athletes of all abilities a means of entry to the world’s most challenging and prestigious one-day endurance event. One way to race in Kailua-Kona is via an entry through the IRONMAN Foundation’s Annual Kona Auction, facilitated by eBay.

The 2019 Annual Kona Auction Open/Close Dates:

SPOT #1: Opens at 12:00 p.m. ET on April 6, closes at 12:00 p.m. ET on April 13

SPOT #2: Opens at 12:00 p.m. ET on April 13, closes at 12:00 p.m. ET on April 20

SPOT #3: Opens at 12:00 p.m. ET on April 20, closes at 12:00 p.m. ET on April 27

SPOT #4: Opens at 12:00 p.m. ET on April 27, closes at 12:00 p.m. ET on May 4

SPOT #5: Opens at 12:00 p.m. ET on May 4 , closes at 12:00 p.m. ET on May 11